RESUMEN
Isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of patients at risk of metastatic cancers is a promising approach to improving cancer treatment. However, CTC isolation is difficult due to low CTC abundance and heterogeneity. Previously, we reported an ensemble-decision aliquot ranking (eDAR) platform for the rare cell and CTC isolation with high throughput, greater than 90% recovery, and high sensitivity, allowing detection of low surface antigen-expressing cells linked to metastasis. Here we demonstrate a sequential eDAR platform capable of isolating rare cells from whole blood with high purity. This improvement in purity is achieved by using a sequential sorting and flow stretching design in which whole blood is sorted and fluid elements are stretched using herringbone features and the parabolic flow profile being sorted a second time. This platform can be used to collect single CTCs in a multiwell plate for downstream analysis.
Asunto(s)
Células Sanguíneas , Separación Celular/métodos , Células Neoplásicas Circulantes , Humanos , Dispositivos Laboratorio en un Chip , Células MCF-7 , Técnicas Analíticas Microfluídicas/instrumentación , Técnicas Analíticas Microfluídicas/métodosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The messenger RNA (mRNA)-based coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines approved for use in children <5 years of age have different antigen doses and administration schedules that could affect vaccine immunogenicity and effectiveness. We sought to compare the strength and breadth of serum binding and neutralizing antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) elicited by monovalent mRNA-based coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines in young children. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of children 6 months to 4 years of age who completed primary series vaccination with monovalent mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2 vaccines. Serum was collected 1 month after primary vaccine series completion for the measurement of SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral immune responses, including antibody binding responses to Spike proteins from an ancestral strain (D614G) and major variants of SARS-CoV-2 and antibody neutralizing activity against D614G and Omicron subvariants (BA.1, BA.4/5). RESULTS: Of 75 participants, 40 (53%) received mRNA-1273 and 35 (47%) received BNT162b2. Children receiving either primary vaccine series developed robust and broad SARS-CoV-2-specific binding and neutralizing antibodies, including to Omicron subvariants. Children with a previous history of SARS-CoV-2 infection developed significantly higher antibody binding responses and neutralization titers to Omicron subvariants, which is consistent with the occurrence of identified infections during the circulation of Omicron subvariants in the region. CONCLUSIONS: Monovalent mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 elicited similar antibody responses 1 month after vaccination in young children. In addition, previous infection significantly enhanced the strength of antibody responses to Omicron subvariants. The authors of future studies should evaluate incorporation of these vaccines into the standard childhood immunization schedule.
Asunto(s)
Vacuna nCoV-2019 mRNA-1273 , Anticuerpos Neutralizantes , Anticuerpos Antivirales , Vacuna BNT162 , COVID-19 , Inmunogenicidad Vacunal , Humanos , Vacuna BNT162/inmunología , Vacuna BNT162/administración & dosificación , Lactante , Vacuna nCoV-2019 mRNA-1273/inmunología , Preescolar , Masculino , Anticuerpos Neutralizantes/sangre , Estudios Prospectivos , Femenino , Inmunogenicidad Vacunal/inmunología , COVID-19/prevención & control , COVID-19/inmunología , Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , SARS-CoV-2/inmunología , Vacunas contra la COVID-19/inmunología , Vacunas contra la COVID-19/administración & dosificación , Estudios de Cohortes , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus/inmunologíaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of severe infections among children. Despite vaccination, HIV-exposed, uninfected (HEU) children have a higher incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease than HIV-unexposed, uninfected (HUU) children. We sought to compare the immunogenicity of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) in HEU and HUU infants. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 134 mother-infant dyads in Botswana. Infants received PCV-13 doses at 2, 3, and 4 months through routine clinical care. We measured IgG antibodies specific to vaccine serotypes in sera collected from infants at 0, 5, and 12 months of age. We calculated the proportion of infants with protective IgG levels (≥0.35 µg/mL) to specific pneumococcal serotypes. RESULTS: At birth, fewer than half of infants had protective IgG levels to serotypes 1 (38%), 3 (46%), 4 (33%), 5 (23%), 6B (40%), 7F (44%), 9 V (44%), and 23F (46%). Compared to HUU infants (n = 97), HEU infants (n = 37) had lower antibody concentrations at birth to serotypes 5 (p = 0.046) and 19A (p = 0.008) after adjustment for maternal age and infant birth weight. More than 80% of HEU and HUU infants developed protective antibody levels to each of the 13 vaccine serotypes following PCV-13 vaccination. Median concentrations of antibodies to pneumococcal serotypes declined by 55-93% between 5 and 12 months of age, with fewer than half of infants having protective antibody levels to serotypes 1 (47%), 3 (28%), 9 V (44%), 18C (24%), and 23F (49%) at 12 months of age. CONCLUSIONS: Both HEU and HUU infants developed protective antibody responses to PCV-13 administered in a 3 + 0 schedule. However, antibody concentrations to many pneumococcal serotypes waned substantially by 12 months of age, suggesting that a PCV-13 booster dose in the second year of life may be needed to maintain protective pneumococcal antibody levels in older infants and young children.
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Infecciones por VIH , Infecciones Neumocócicas , Anciano , Anticuerpos Antibacterianos , Botswana/epidemiología , Niño , Preescolar , Humanos , Inmunoglobulina G , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Cinética , Infecciones Neumocócicas/prevención & control , Vacunas Neumococicas , Estudios Prospectivos , Vacunas ConjugadasRESUMEN
To develop vaccines for certain key global pathogens such as HIV, it is crucial to elicit both neutralizing and non-neutralizing Fc-mediated effector antibody functions. Clinical evidence indicates that non-neutralizing antibody functions including antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) contribute to protection against several pathogens. In this study, we demonstrated that conjugation of HIV Envelope (Env) antigen gp120 to a self-assembling nanofiber material named Q11 induced antibodies with higher breadth and functionality when compared to soluble gp120. Immunization with Q11-conjugated gp120 vaccine (gp120-Q11) demonstrated higher tier 1 neutralization, ADCP, and ADCC as compared to soluble gp120. Moreover, Q11 conjugation altered the Fc N-glycosylation profile of antigen-specific antibodies, leading to a phenotype associated with increased ADCC in animals immunized with gp120-Q11. Thus, this nanomaterial vaccine strategy can enhance non-neutralizing antibody functions possibly through modulation of immunoglobulin G Fc N-glycosylation.
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Vacunas contra el SIDA , Infecciones por VIH , VIH-1 , Nanofibras , Animales , Glicosilación , Anticuerpos Anti-VIH , Infecciones por VIH/prevención & control , Fragmentos Fc de Inmunoglobulinas/genética , Inmunoglobulina G , Vacunas de SubunidadRESUMEN
Despite the overwhelming success of vaccines in preventing infectious diseases, there remain numerous globally devastating diseases without fully protective vaccines, particularly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria and tuberculosis. Nanotechnology approaches are being developed both to design new vaccines against these diseases as well as to facilitate their global implementation. The reasons why a given pathogen may present difficulties for vaccine design are unique and tied to the co-evolutionary history of the pathogen and humans, but there are common challenges that nanotechnology is beginning to help address. In each case, a successful vaccine will need to raise immune responses that differ from the immune responses raised by normal infection. Nanomaterials, with their defined compositions, commonly modular construction, and length scales allowing the engagement of key immune pathways, collectively facilitate the iterative design process necessary to identify such protective immune responses and achieve them reliably. Nanomaterials also provide strategies for engineering the trafficking and delivery of vaccine components to key immune cells and lymphoid tissues, and they can be highly multivalent, improving their engagement with the immune system. This Review will discuss these aspects along with recent nanomaterial advances towards vaccines against infectious disease, with a particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
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Enfermedades Transmisibles/terapia , Nanoestructuras/uso terapéutico , Nanotecnología , Vacunas/uso terapéutico , Investigación Biomédica , Enfermedades Transmisibles/inmunología , Salud Global , Humanos , Inmunidad , Malaria/prevención & control , Malaria/terapia , Nanoestructuras/química , Tuberculosis/prevención & control , Tuberculosis/terapiaRESUMEN
A major challenge in developing an effective vaccine against HIV-1 is the genetic diversity of its viral envelope. Because of the broad range of sequences exhibited by HIV-1 strains, protective antibodies must be able to bind and neutralize a widely mutated viral envelope protein. No vaccine has yet been designed which induces broadly neutralizing or protective immune responses against HIV in humans. Nanomaterial-based vaccines have shown the ability to generate antibody and cellular immune responses of increased breadth and neutralization potency. Thus, we have developed supramolecular nanofiber-based immunogens bearing the HIV gp120 envelope glycoprotein. These immunogens generated antibody responses that had increased magnitude and binding breadth compared to soluble gp120. By varying gp120 density on nanofibers, we determined that increased antigen valency was associated with increased antibody magnitude and germinal center responses. This study presents a proof-of-concept for a nanofiber vaccine platform generating broad, high binding antibody responses against the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein.
Asunto(s)
Anticuerpos Anti-VIH/metabolismo , Antígenos VIH/inmunología , Proteína gp120 de Envoltorio del VIH/química , Proteína gp120 de Envoltorio del VIH/inmunología , Nanofibras/química , Animales , Femenino , Centro Germinal/inmunología , Anticuerpos Anti-VIH/inmunología , Proteína gp120 de Envoltorio del VIH/metabolismo , Vacunas contra el Virus del Herpes Simple/inmunología , Inmunoglobulina G/sangre , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Linfocitos T Colaboradores-Inductores/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Infants are capable of mounting adaptive immune responses, but their ability to develop long-lasting immunity is limited. Understanding the particularities of the neonatal adaptive immune system is therefore critical to guide the design of immune-based interventions, including vaccines, in early life. In this review, we present a thorough summary of T cell, B cell, and humoral immunity in early life and discuss infant adaptive immune responses to pathogens and vaccines. We focus on the differences between T and B cell responses in early life and adulthood, which hinder the generation of long-lasting adaptive immune responses in infancy. We discuss how knowledge of early life adaptive immunity can be applied when developing vaccine strategies for this unique period of immune development. In particular, we emphasize the use of novel vaccine adjuvants and optimization of infant vaccine schedules. We also propose integrating maternal and infant immunization strategies to ensure optimal neonatal protection through passive maternal antibody transfer while avoiding hindering infant vaccine responses. Our review highlights that the infant adaptive immune system is functionally distinct and uniquely regulated compared to later life and that these particularities should be considered when designing interventions to promote pediatric health.
Asunto(s)
Inmunidad Adaptativa , Salud del Lactante , Linfocitos B/inmunología , Humanos , Lactante , Linfocitos T/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Each year, >180,000 infants become infected via mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV despite the availability of effective maternal antiretroviral treatments, underlining the need for a maternal HIV vaccine. We characterized 224 maternal HIV envelope (Env)-specific IgG monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from seven nontransmitting and transmitting HIV-infected U.S. and Malawian mothers and examined their neutralization activities against nontransmitted autologous circulating viruses and infant-transmitted founder (infant-T/F) viruses. Only a small subset of maternal viruses, 3 of 72 (4%), were weakly neutralized by maternal linear V3 epitope-specific IgG MAbs, whereas 6 out of 6 (100%) infant-T/F viruses were neutralization resistant to these V3-specific IgG MAbs. We also show that maternal-plasma broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) responses targeting the V3 glycan supersite in a transmitting woman may have selected for an N332 V3 glycan neutralization-resistant infant-T/F virus. These data have important implications for bNAb-eliciting vaccines and passively administered bNAbs in the setting of MTCT.IMPORTANCE Efforts to eliminate MTCT of HIV with antiretroviral therapy (ART) have met little success, with >180,000 infant infections each year worldwide. It is therefore likely that additional immunologic strategies that can synergize with ART will be required to eliminate MTCT of HIV. To this end, understanding the role of maternal HIV Env-specific IgG antibodies in the setting of MTCT is crucial. In this study, we found that maternal-plasma broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) responses can select for T/F viruses that initiate infection in infants. We propose that clinical trials testing the efficacy of single bNAb specificities should not include HIV-infected pregnant women, as a single bNAb might select for neutralization-resistant infant-T/F viruses.
Asunto(s)
Anticuerpos ampliamente neutralizantes/inmunología , Anticuerpos Anti-VIH/inmunología , Infecciones por VIH/transmisión , VIH-1/inmunología , Transmisión Vertical de Enfermedad Infecciosa , Estudios de Cohortes , Epítopos/inmunología , Femenino , Variación Genética , Proteína gp120 de Envoltorio del VIH/genética , Proteína gp120 de Envoltorio del VIH/inmunología , Infecciones por VIH/inmunología , VIH-1/genética , Humanos , Lactante , Malaui , Pruebas de Neutralización , Fragmentos de Péptidos/genética , Fragmentos de Péptidos/inmunología , Embarazo , Complicaciones Infecciosas del Embarazo/inmunología , Complicaciones Infecciosas del Embarazo/virologíaRESUMEN
In this study, the acid tolerance of Bacillus cereus 1-4-1 after adaptation at pH 5.5 for 1, 2 and 4 h was first determined. The survival of acid-adapted and non-adapted cells of B. cereus in phosphate buffer solution (PBS pH 4.0) containing various organic acids such as acetic, propionic, citric, lactic or tartaric acid as well as in a commercial acidic beverage of mixed fruits and vegetables (pH 3.7) was then examined. Results revealed that acid adaptation time influenced the increased tolerance of B. cereus in PBS (pH 4.0). The 2 h-adapted cells exhibited the highest acid tolerance in PBS. The presence of chloramphenicol during the acid adaptation reduced the extent of increased acid tolerance. Acid adaptation was also found to enhance the tolerance of the test organism in the presence of the various organic acids tested. While the extent of increased acid tolerance varied with the organic acid examined. Acid-adapted B. cereus cells exhibited the largest extent of increased tolerance, showing an increased survival of ca. 1000 folds, in the propionic acid-containing PBS. Additionally, a higher survival percentage was noted with the acid-adapted than the non-adapted cells of B. cereus in the acidic beverage stored at 4 or 25 degrees C.
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Ácidos/farmacología , Adaptación Fisiológica , Bacillus cereus/fisiología , Microbiología de Alimentos , Concentración de Iones de Hidrógeno , Ácidos/antagonistas & inhibidores , Adaptación Fisiológica/efectos de los fármacos , Bacillus cereus/efectos de los fármacos , Bacillus cereus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Cloranfenicol/farmacología , Recuento de Colonia Microbiana , Contaminación de Alimentos/prevención & control , Humanos , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
In the present study, Bacillus cereus 1-4-1, which is capable of causing diarrheal syndrome, was subjected to acid adaptation at pH 5.5 for 2 hours. The effect of acid adaptation on the survival of B. cereus subjected to subsequent lethal challenges at both low (4 degrees and -18 degrees C) and high temperatures (49 degrees C) as well as in the presence of 5 mM H(2)O(2) was investigated. Additionally, enterotoxin production by B. cereus as influenced by acid adaptation was examined. Results revealed that acid adaptation increased the survival of B. cereus during storage at -18 degrees C while a decreased survival was noted for the acid-adapted cells during storage at 4 degrees C. In addition, the acid-adapted cells were less susceptible to high temperature than the nonadapted cells. On the other hand, acid adaptation did not change the susceptibility of test organism to H(2)O(2). It was also found that acid adaptation time affected the enterotoxin production of B. cereus cells. The 1- to 2-hour acid-adapted cells exhibited a reduced level of enterotoxin production while cells acid adapted for 4 hours and the nonadapted cells showed no difference in the level of enterotoxin production. Besides, the acid-adapted cells showed a reduced lag period for growth and enterotoxin production when they were grown in tryptic soy broth.
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Adaptación Fisiológica , Bacillus cereus/fisiología , Enterotoxinas/biosíntesis , Conservación de Alimentos/métodos , Peróxido de Hidrógeno/farmacología , Ácidos/farmacología , Bacillus cereus/efectos de los fármacos , Bacillus cereus/metabolismo , Bacillus cereus/patogenicidad , Seguridad de Productos para el Consumidor , Contaminación de Alimentos/análisis , Contaminación de Alimentos/prevención & control , Manipulación de Alimentos/métodos , Microbiología de Alimentos , Humanos , Concentración de Iones de Hidrógeno , TemperaturaRESUMEN
In the present study, the foodborne pathogen Bacillus cereus 1-4-1 was subjected to acid adaptation treatment by suspending the test organism in tryptic soy broth (pH 5.5) for 2 hours. The susceptibility of the acid-adapted and nonadapted cells of B. cereus 1-4-1 to high concentrations of ethanol (20%) and NaCl (20%) was then examined. In addition, the effect of acid adaptation on the protein expression profile of B. cereus 1-4-1 as well as the growth patterns of the acid-adapted and nonadapted cells of the test organism in the presence of various carbon and nitrogen sources were compared. Results revealed that acid-adapted B. cereus 1-4-1 was more susceptible to ethanol (20%) and NaCl (20%) than its nonadapted counterpart. Analysis with one-dimensional SDS-PAGE showed no distinct difference in the expression of the 16 proteins bands noted in the nonadapted cells compared with those of acid-adapted cells. Two-dimensional electrophoresis revealed that the acid adaptation treatment affected the expression of 26 species of protein, with the levels of 12 proteins increasing and 14 proteins decreasing in the cells of acid-adapted B. cereus 1-4-1 compared with those of the control cells. Furthermore, immunoblotting detected GroEL-like protein with a similar level in the acid-adapted and nonadapted cells of B. cereus 1-4-1 while failing to find the presence of a DnaK-like protein. B. cereus 1-4-1, regardless of acid adaptation, exhibited the highest maximum growth with sucrose as the carbon source while the maximum growth was found in the presence of either peptone, soytone, tryptone, or yeast extract as the nitrogen source, with these showing no significant difference. Finally, the growth patterns of the acid-adapted and nonadapted cells were similar.
Asunto(s)
Adaptación Fisiológica , Bacillus cereus/fisiología , Proteínas Bacterianas/metabolismo , Etanol/farmacología , Cloruro de Sodio/farmacología , Bacillus cereus/efectos de los fármacos , Bacillus cereus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Proteínas Bacterianas/análisis , Carbono/metabolismo , Seguridad de Productos para el Consumidor , Relación Dosis-Respuesta a Droga , Electroforesis en Gel Bidimensional , Electroforesis en Gel de Poliacrilamida , Conservación de Alimentos/métodos , Regulación Bacteriana de la Expresión Génica , Cinética , Nitrógeno/metabolismoRESUMEN
The overall prognosis of bladder cancer has not been improved over the last 30 years and therefore, there is a great medical need to develop novel diagnosis and therapy approaches for bladder cancer. We developed a multifunctional nanoporphyrin platform that was coated with a bladder cancer-specific ligand named PLZ4. PLZ4-nanoporphyrin (PNP) integrates photodynamic diagnosis, image-guided photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy and targeted chemotherapy in a single procedure. PNPs are spherical, relatively small (around 23 nm), and have the ability to preferably emit fluorescence/heat/reactive oxygen species upon illumination with near infrared light. Doxorubicin (DOX) loaded PNPs possess slower drug release and dramatically longer systemic circulation time compared to free DOX. The fluorescence signal of PNPs efficiently and selectively increased in bladder cancer cells but not normal urothelial cells in vitro and in an orthotopic patient derived bladder cancer xenograft (PDX) models, indicating their great potential for photodynamic diagnosis. Photodynamic therapy with PNPs was significantly more potent than 5-aminolevulinic acid, and eliminated orthotopic PDX bladder cancers after intravesical treatment. Image-guided photodynamic and photothermal therapies synergized with targeted chemotherapy of DOX and significantly prolonged overall survival of mice carrying PDXs. In conclusion, this uniquely engineered targeting PNP selectively targeted tumor cells for photodynamic diagnosis, and served as effective triple-modality (photodynamic/photothermal/chemo) therapeutic agents against bladder cancers. This platform can be easily adapted to individualized medicine in a clinical setting and has tremendous potential to improve the management of bladder cancer in the clinic.
Asunto(s)
Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/administración & dosificación , Microscopía Fluorescente/métodos , Nanopartículas/administración & dosificación , Fotoquimioterapia/métodos , Porfirinas/administración & dosificación , Neoplasias de la Vejiga Urinaria/tratamiento farmacológico , Neoplasias de la Vejiga Urinaria/patología , Animales , Línea Celular Tumoral , Terapia Combinada/métodos , Doxorrubicina/administración & dosificación , Humanos , Ratones , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Terapia Molecular Dirigida/métodos , Nanopartículas/química , Péptidos Cíclicos/administración & dosificación , Fármacos Fotosensibilizantes/administración & dosificación , Fototerapia/métodos , Nanomedicina Teranóstica/métodos , Resultado del TratamientoRESUMEN
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most serious complications of diabetes, accounting for the majority of patients with end-stage renal disease. The molecular pathogenesis of DN involves multiple pathways in a complex, partially resolved manner. The paper presents an exploratory epistatic study for DN. Association analysis were performed on 231 SNP loci in a cohort of 264 type 2 diabetes patients, followed by the epistasis analysis using the multifactor dimensionality reduction and the genetic algorithm with Boolean algebra. A two-locus epistatic effect of EGFR and RXRG was identified, with a cross-validation consistency of 91.7%.
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Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2/genética , Nefropatías Diabéticas/genética , Epistasis Genética , Anciano , Algoritmos , Pueblo Asiatico/genética , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Estudios de Cohortes , Nefropatías Diabéticas/etiología , Femenino , Genes erbB-1 , Haplotipos , Humanos , Desequilibrio de Ligamiento , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Polimorfismo de Nucleótido Simple , Receptor gamma X Retinoide/genética , TaiwánRESUMEN
As an approach to improving Fibrobacter succinogenes 1,3-1,4-beta-d-glucanase (Fsbeta-glucanase) for use in industry and to studying the structure-function relationship of the C-terminus in the enzyme, a C-terminally truncated ( approximately 10 kDa) Fsbeta-glucanase was generated using a PCR-based gene truncation method and then overexpressed in either Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) or Pichia pastoris strain X-33 host cells. The initial rate kinetics, protein folding, and thermostability of the wild-type and truncated glucanases were characterized. The truncated enzyme expressed in Pichia cells was found to be glycosylated and composed of two dominant polypeptide bands as judged by SDS-PAGE. An approximate 3-4-fold increase in the turnover rate (k(cat)), relative to that of the full-length enzyme, was detected for the purified truncated glucanases produced in E. coli (designated TF-glucanase) or Pichia host cells (designated glycosylated TF-glucanase). The glycosylated TF-glucanase is the most active known 1,3-1,4-beta-d-glucanase, with a specific activity of 10 800 +/- 200 units/mg. Similar binding affinities for lichenan (K(m) = 2.5-2.89 mg/mL) were detected for the full-length enzyme, TF-glucanase, and glycosylated TF-glucanase. Both forms of truncated glucanase retained more than 80% of their original enzymatic activity after a 10 min incubation at 90 degrees C, whereas the full-length enzyme possessed only 30% of its original enzymatic activity after the same treatment. This report demonstrates that deletion of the C-terminal region ( approximately 10 kDa) in Fsbeta-glucanase, consisting of serine-rich repeats and a basic terminal domain rich in positively charged amino acids, significantly increases the catalytic efficiency and thermotolerance of the enzyme.